Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Kurt Vile "Society is My Friend" from Smoke Ring For My HaloToro Y Moi "New Beat" from Underneath The Pine10CC "Welcome To The World" from Look Hear?Tom Tom Club "Challenge of the Love Warriors" from Boom Boom Chi Boom BoomWhite Wigs "Passion Kiss" from Beko_Hobo Cult Records CompilationThe United States of America "Hard Coming Love" from S/TBad Brains "Stay Close To Me" from Pay to Cum! 7"Trouble Funk "Trouble Funk Express" from Live/Early SinglesKraftwerk "Showroom Dummies" from Trans-Europe ExpressHarry Pussy "No Hey ..." from You'll Never Play This Town AgainSupreme Dicks "In The Whippoorwill's Sad Orchard" from Working Man's DickLow "Try To Sleep" from C'MonDemdike Stare "Nothing But the Night 2" from TryptychPumice "Thermos in the Studio" from Quo

This week's highlights include a couple of the new releases from the excellent NNA Tapes imprint. In terms of chopped-up, outer realm synthetic sounds, the new ones from the mysterious Wanda Group and Derek Gedalecia'sHead Boogle project sit right up there with the recent batch from Gift Tapes that I've yapped-up in previous weeks. WandaGroup play 'instruments' a bit like Smegma do, meaning who the hell really knows what's going on. Plus, their Bass Urine treatments rachet up the level of abstraction even further. Head Boggle, one of the more fitting aliases in recent memory, dabble in somewhat similar liquefied sonics that dart every which way. Over the chaotic sprawl of the Domo Live side, however, you realize that Gedalecia indeed has a steady and assured hand on the tiller. Another album that recently caught me off guard was Kerning, a very limited run first full-length offering from C. Yantis out on Blackest Rainbow. Yantis, at times, wields his guitar much in the same way that the guys in Barn Owl do, exploring a sweeping, Americana-infused take on minimalism, albeit at a slightly lower decibel level. That said, he seems just as intent to detonate the whole Folk/Blues tradition ala Bill Orcutt's recent solo outings too. We'll have to see how this plays out on Yantis's forthcoming release on Hobo Cult Records due out this summer. Speaking of Hobo Cult Records, this past week saw the release of an excellent Hobo Cult compilation put out by the Beko Digital Singles Label. I usually don't play many mp3s on the show, but I couldn't help myself with this one. Hell, I was tempted to play the whole shebang, but that seemed a bit much when you can grab a copy for yourself here. We closed out this week's show with just a taster of Nathan Mclaughlin's fantastic new Echolocation #5 cassette. You'll get a chance to hear more though in the coming weeks, as Nathan will be joining us for an in-studio session.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Rodd Keith "Beat of the Traps" from Ecstacy to FrenzyThe Bombay Sweets "Beautiful Fist" from First DemoThe Fresh & Onlys "I'm All Shook Up" from Play It StrangeJerusalem & the Starbaskets "Chocolate Covered Everyberry" from DOSTThe West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band "'Scuse Me, Miss Rose" from Part OneAlbert Band "Ella Tiene El Cabello Rubio" from Absolute BelterOscar Brown, Jr. "Chicken Heads" from What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare GroovesLittle Richard "Nuki Suki" from What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare GroovesG. Love & Special Sauce "Cold Beverages" from G. Love & Special SaucePrince "Starfish and Coffee" from Sign O' the TimesDuran Duran "All You Need Is Now" from All You Need Is NowThe Raveonettes "Recharge & Revolt" from Raven in the GraveThe Dambuilders "Shrine" from EncendedorJ. Mascis "Not Enough" from Several Shades of Why

We were live for this week's Spring Pledge Drive show with special guest, Lil' Henry. We spun some tracks from the What It Is! boxset that the station is offering as a premium at the $100 pledge level and we also spun a few things from samplers that will be available for next week's Record Store Day. As of this writing, our station is about 2/3 of the way to meeting its pledge drive goal, so we still need to hear from listeners out there. If you happen to like what Free Form Freakout is up to, or believe in the type of unique programming that college/community stations like KMSU offer, then we encourage you to lend your financial support in any amount that you can swing. You can do so by calling 507-389-5678 or 1-800-456-7810. Or even easier, just head over to the KMSU website and click the 'Donate to KMSU' link. Thanks to all those listeners that have stepped-up and supported the station.

Archers By The Sea “We Used To See Humans” They Were Floating Over the Mountain, They Were KingsLP (La Station Radar)

Haino/O’Rourke/Ambarchi “Once Again You Are Reading It Wrong What Is Written Is To Live” In A Flash Everything Comes Together . . . 2LP (Black Truffle)

Some more new sounds arrived over the past few weeks at the nearly flooded FFF bunker. It was looking like we might have to box up the whole works and head for high ground, but fortunately Mother Nature cooperated with us. So now we just have to deal with that pervasive damp sock and litter box odor, but at least the music collection is safe, right? Some highlights on this week's show include the new cassette from Garrincha & The Stolen Elk from the latest Stunned batch. G&TSE are the Sacramento-based duo of Matt Kretzmann and Davy Bui, Bui being the fellow behind the great Weird Forest label. Joined on this release by Karlos Ayala (bass) and Kevin Corcoran (drums), G&TSE play a refreshing form of explosive, yet intricate, skronk ROCK that has nothing to do with the underground's current fixation with all things Kraut/shoegaze/Spacemen 3/____-wave. Based on this c20, their forthcoming LP on Weird Forest should definitely be something to be on the lookout for. Another release that breaks free from much of the current synth herd is the new cassette from Matt Carlson called Gecko Dream Levels. With rather glossy fidelity, Carlson's whacked-out synth & electronics sounds dart in myriad directions, causing me to duck for cover in the studio. Lastly, more choice DIY sounds to emerge from Down Under with the new Certain Materials EP from Primitive Motion, the duo of Deadnotes' members Leighton Craig and Sandra Selig. Their brand of homespun, primitive pop sits quite comfortably amongst such notable contemporaries as Peaking Lights and Naked on the Vague. It's ace!, mate.